


It All Falls Apart

by orphan_account



Category: Big Hero 6 (2014)
Genre: Different Circumstances, M/M, Slow Burn, Supernatural Elements, a little bit AU, otherwise canon 'verse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-20
Updated: 2015-09-08
Packaged: 2018-03-02 07:22:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2804282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hiro's first priority in life was keeping the lid on his big secret. It had never been that hard before, back when he was a mostly solitary being. But now that a certain Tadashi Hamada and his nerd crew were a part of his life, Hiro wasn't sure he would be able to hide what he really was for much longer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I used Hiro's voice actor's name as his middle name here. I couldn't find a name for Krei's secretary so I'm calling her Arianna (she'll make appearances, but she won't be very important).
> 
> This is the first time I've written anything outside my main fandom that's more than a oneshot. I'm really nervous about it, but I hope someone likes this!

Well, that hadn’t worked as well as he had hoped.

Hiro masked his annoyance with an expression of naïve shock as his bot fell to the ground, disassembled. Across from him, his opponent laughed smugly, while the serrated blade retracted into the enemy bot’s hand.

“I… That was my first fight,” Hiro lied blatantly, though he doubted the people around him would ever catch on. “C-can I try again?”

After another round of the audience laughing at the poor, innocent little lamb in their midst — which was really starting to get on Hiro’s nerves, by the way — he produced a wad of money from his pocket that shut them up and got him a rematch.

Hiro reached out to pick up the fallen pieces of the prototype he had tested on the first round. He could easily have ordered it to put itself back together, but he didn’t want to fight with it this time. It wasn’t responding the way he wanted it to; it was stiff and slow and clunky. He made a note of that.

So, as he tucked the prototype into his hoodie pocket with one hand, he pulled his trusty Megabot out with the other.

His opponent was occupied in a conversation with another thug, their snide laughter overly loud. Hiro used the time to buff Megabot’s metallic head with his sleeve.

Hidden by that sleeve, however, the patterns on Hiro’s arm began to glow softly as he infused the bot with his magic. “Don’t fail me now,” he whispered to it, before placing it in the ring.

He needn’t have worried. Megabot worked as well as always — better, with the magical boost. After Hiro gave the vocal command to _destroy_ , he didn’t even need to press any buttons on his controller — although he pretended to anyway, for show — as Megabot reduced the enemy to a worse state than the prototype in Hiro’s pocket.

When the other bot was taken care of, Hiro quickly severed Megabot’s connection to his magic before it could go on a rampage. Suddenly inanimate again, Megabot flopped down to the ground.

Hiro picked up Megabot, chuckling bashfully to the shocked stares directed at him. “Wow, lucky me, right?” he asked, taking his winnings from the referee’s tray. “I mean, hey, that sure came out of nowhere, you know?”

His opponent’s face hardened in anger, which Hiro took as his cue to get the heck out of there.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t watching where he was going, and before he knew it he had very literally backed himself into a corner. A group of men, his opponent included, advanced on him.

He gave them an anxious smile. “H-hey fellas, what’s up?” he tried.

“A hustler, are you?” one of them growled.

“N-no, no hustling here!” Hiro’s eyes darted around for an escape route, but they had him surrounded. “Just beginners’ luck…”

A burly guy stepped forward, looking ready to hit him and hit him hard, when someone from outside the group interrupted. “Wait a minute, I think I recognise that kid! That’s—“

“Hiro Ryan Krei!”

At that, the group parted slightly to look at the speaker, allowing Hiro a view of the suited figure who stood before them, arms crossed.

“… _Hi_ , Dad!” Hiro said, giving Alistair Krei a strained smile. “Um, what are you doing here? Not that I’m complaining! Just, you know. Um.”

Krei ran a hand over his slicked-back hair, a tired expression on his face. “Hiro… The question is, what are _you_ doing here?”

“Well.” Hiro’s eyes darted between the thankfully stunned thugs and back to his father. “Do you really want to hear the answer to that?”

Krei eyed the thugs as well, before giving a long, weary sigh. He stalked forward, causing a few of the thugs to take a step back from the well-known — practically famous — businessman. To the one who appeared to be the leader, Krei presented a thick wad of bills. “I want no word of my son’s behaviour today to reach the media. Do I make myself clear?”

The leader took the cash between two fingers, thumbing through it. His eyes widened and he gestured for the others to back off from Hiro.

Hiro didn’t have much time to be relieved, because as soon as they did, his father grabbed him by the ear and dragged him away.

.

“ _Bot fighting_.”

The two scathing words came from the older Krei, as he and his son sat in the back of their limousine on the drive home. “ _Bot fighting_ ,” Krei stressed again. “What on Earth were you thinking?”

Hiro did not say _I was thinking that I was bored_ , but he could tell his father had read it from his face.

Krei shook his head with a _tsk_. “Honestly. Do I need to give you a stern parental lecture? You know how bad I am at those, Hiro. Do not make me give you a stern parental lecture.”

After a second of silence from Hiro, Krei pulled out his phone and started dialling.

“Arianna?” he said into the speaker. Hiro instantly recognised the name of his father’s personal secretary. “I need you to deliver a stern parental lecture, please. Yes, a generic one will be fine. Just let me put you on speakerphone.”

Krei pressed a button before holding the phone up, allowing Hiro to hear Arianna’s voice.

“You little ruffian,” she droned, her tone flat and bored. Hiro could imagine her filing her nails as she spoke. “You scoundrel. You miscreant. What were you thinking? After all Mr. Krei has done for you — taking you in when no one else would, putting a roof over your head, allowing you to live in luxury for the last couple of years — you still disobey him in this way? You should be ashamed of yourself, young man. You rapscallion. You—“

“Thank you, Arianna,” Krei interrupted. “I believe he sees the point. That will be all.” Without another word, he hung up the line, returning his attention to Hiro.

“It wasn’t what you think, Dad,” Hiro protested before Krei could pick up where she left off. “It really wasn’t!”

Krei arched a disbelieving eyebrow at him. “You mean you _weren’t_ bot fighting?”

“…Well, I was,” Hiro admitted, “but! I was doing it for Krei Tech!”

“What,” Krei stated flatly.

“Yeah! You know that new material the Krei Tech scientists have been working on? The one they think could be ‘the building blocks of a new generation of robotics’?” At Krei’s nod, Hiro went on, “Well, in _theory_ , it’s super durable, malleable, long-lasting, blah blah blah. In practice?” He pulled the dismembered prototype from his pocket, showing it to Krei. “Less than ideal.”

Krei looked appalled, but not at what Hiro was hoping he would be appalled about. “Hiro! Did you steal parts from the labs?!”

“W— Maybe.” Hiro tucked the broken bot back into his pocket defensively. “But it’s not like that matters — didn’t you hear me? The tech isn’t—“

“Hiro, while I… _appreciate_ your… eagerness to contribute,” Krei began, his long-suffering tone back in full force, “we cannot _use_ this information.”

“What?” Hiro’s expression dropped. “But— why not?”

“ _Because_ , Hiro, illegal bot fights are not exactly considered a sound part of the scientific process!”

At that, Hiro let out a loud groan, sinking down into the plush leather of the limo’s seats. “There goes _that_ excuse…” he muttered.

Krei hesitated slightly, before he added in a more sympathetic tone, “I realise you need some way to take out your… unique inclinations—“

“Dad…” Hiro tried to interrupt, the tips of his fingers curling into the fabric of his own sleeve.

“—But surely there’s some other outlet we can find you—“

“Dad!” He actually had to suppress a growl; bad sign. Keeping it all in was affecting him more than he had thought. “I— It’s fine. It’s just been a while since… the last time. It’s just getting a bit pent up.”

“…I’ll ask the construction crew for the new campus if they have any more rubble that needs disposing of.”

Hiro opened his mouth to protest that they didn’t want anyone to get suspicious, but it didn’t make it past his lips. The idea of being able to use his magic unrestrained on pieces of debris was too much when he was suffering from magical build up.

.

The paparazzi were outside Hiro’s window. Again.

Hiro frowned to himself as he double-checked that each window was firmly latched, before closing the blinds and letting down all the curtains. Then, for good measure, he took his clothes and went into his personal bathroom, shutting and locking the door behind him, before he got changed.

Hiro was not terribly fond of the paparazzi, who were often his personal shadow. Krei had warned him about them during the adoption process, but at the time, Hiro hadn’t thought it would be a big deal.

Hiro had been naïve.

Krei had always been up front with Hiro about the fact that his adoption had initially stemmed from the need for good publicity, after some bad press Krei Tech had gotten itself into. Hiro understood. It just meant he spent a lot of time in front of cameras, regurgitating a heart-warming story about how Krei had picked him over all the others at the orphanage, just as he had been losing hope that he would ever find a home, ooh look at me, I am a pitiful orphan boy, my new dad is so nice to me, rah-rah Krei Tech.

They ate it up, of course. And just like that, Hiro was a minor celebrity — with more attention put on him than he could have imagined.

Mostly, the paparazzi was just annoying, but they also meant he had to be extra careful about exposing himself. If they ever got a glance at what he hid under his sleeves—

The thick, barbed black lines were currently on display as Hiro changed shirts in the sanctity of his bathroom. Krei was the only other person in the world who knew about them. The lines marked him as magical — but more than that, they advertised his innate abilities with Destructive Magic.

Hiro knew he was very lucky. Most people like him were shunned, marginalised, because they were dangerous; if they went too long without using their magic, without _destroying_ things indiscriminately, they became aggressive and volatile. And Hiro himself was—

He cut off that thought with a deep, calming breath. He would be able to work out his magic soon, just as soon as Krei got his hands on that construction rubble. Until then…

Hiro picked up a bar of hand soap from its spot near the sink, letting the weight of it settle in his palm. Then, as the black patterns on his arms glowed softly, the soap twisted and warped in front of his eyes, before disintegrating into nothing.

It wasn’t nearly enough, but it helped.

A rapping came from the door. “Hiro, are you in there?” asked Krei.

“One minute,” Hiro answered, quickly throwing on a long sleeved shirt. He unlocked the door and poked his head out, greeted by the sight of Krei and Arianna standing in his room. “Yeah?”

“Are you ready to go?” Krei asked, making Hiro blink in surprise.

“Go where?”

“Don’t tell me you forgot,” Krei said with a tone of exasperation. “Tonight’s the showcase.”

Hiro stared back blankly, willing himself to remember what exactly the ‘showcase’ was.

“The student showcase.”

Nothing was coming to him…

“At Callaghan’s school.”

“Oh!” Memory: jogged. Hiro felt a silly sense of accomplishment. “The SFIT student showcase! Of course!” Then he stopped, blinking again. “…You expect _me_ to go?”

“Yes, Hiro, I do.” The way Krei said it left no room for arguments.

Hiro tried anyway. “But… it’s just a bunch of college nerds showing off their dumb inventions! I’ll be bored out of my _mind_!”

.

Hiro was bored out of his mind.

His father had been dragging him around to take a look at each invention, looking for anything that might be worth investing in. It was currently only the two of them, as Arianna had gone to the ladies’ room to clean herself up after an unfortunate stint as a volunteer in someone’s demonstration-gone-wrong.

Most of the inventions of the night had been rudimentary. The one he was looking at now, though — it really took the cake.

“So,” said Krei, who was trying his hardest to sound politely interested. “You’ve built a… clapping machine.”

“Not just clapping!” the student pitched, patting the top of his invention — a set of robotic arms — proudly. “It also snaps, holds things, and does the patty cake.”

Hiro and Krei exchanged a sceptical glance.

“…Can it fist bump?” asked Hiro.

This gave the student pause. “Well, no… but I’m sure I can program it to!”

“Right. Well.” Hiro made a show of glancing around the room. “Oh, hey! Is that someone I know over there? I think it is. Gee, I better go say hi.” He gave Krei a pat on the back. “Looks like this one’s all yours, Dad.”

He quickly made his leave, ignoring his father’s hissed _“Hirogetbackhere!”_

Once he was out of view of the… clapping machine, Hiro took another look around for anything that might hold his interest. There were a few inventions on show that were definitely better than what he expected, but he had already seen most of them with Krei and Arianna.

Then he noticed someone on one of the demonstration stages that he hadn’t seen before. The guy up there was presenting what seemed to be a… giant marshmallow. Hiro went over, if only in the hopes of getting a laugh out of it.

Luckily for him, it appeared the guy was only just starting his presentation. “Hi, I’m Tadashi Hamada, and this is my robot, Baymax,” he was introducing. “Before I explain what he does, can I have a volunteer from the audience, please?”

An uneasy murmur rose from said audience — Hiro didn’t doubt that they had seen the disastrous results of Arianna’s turn at volunteering.

Tadashi Hamada apparently sensed their trepidation as well. He slid off his jacket, revealing his bare arms, and—

Hiro’s eyes widened. Sinuous, pale blue lines curved their way down the presenter’s arms, ending in feathered tips by his wrists. He had magic, like Hiro, except he was…

“I’m a Healer,” announced Tadashi Hamada. “So if any of you are worried about the sort of thing that happened to Mr. Krei’s secretary earlier… Even if something like that _does_ happen, know that I can fix you right up.”

It was enough to ease a few audience members’ concerns. Hands went into the air, and Tadashi selected one of them to join him on stage. It wasn’t Hiro’s hand that was chosen, which disappointed him slightly until Tadashi asked the volunteer to roll up his sleeve — forget disappointment. Hiro just dodged a bullet.

When the volunteer’s arm was exposed, Tadashi produced a roll of duct tape and tore off a strip. Hiro had an idea of where this was going.

Sure enough, Tadashi fixed the strip of tape to the volunteer’s arm before ripping it off harshly, causing the man to cry out. This was apparently what activated the robot, Baymax.

Baymax waddled over to the man and began speaking to him. Hiro didn’t mind the details of the exchange much, paying more attention to the sheer skill it must have taken to program an AI at that level, especially for a college student. Hiro was quite impressed.

However, he was distracted from the robot’s sophisticated conversation skills when it took the volunteer’s hurt arm, and Baymax began to glow with a soft blue energy.

“Magic robot,” Hiro blurted out without thinking, his eyes widening into saucers.

“That’s right!” Tadashi agreed, smiling down at Hiro where he stood at the front of the crowd. “Baymax here uses my own magical energy, but he doesn’t need me present to use it; at the moment, he just keeps it stored in him for use, but I aim to make it so that he can produce his own magic…”

Hiro tuned out slightly as Tadashi Hamada wrapped up his presentation. That man had made a robot that could store and use magic. It was unheard of.

Sure, Hiro was able to infuse Megabot with magic, but the battle bot couldn’t _use_ that energy. It only acted as a (very violent) driving force, and it never lasted more than ten minutes, max. _How_ had Tadashi Hamada made a robot like Baymax?

Hiro looked to the side of the stage, where as Tadashi climbed down he was greeted and congratulated by a small group of people, probably friends and family. As he rushed over, the thought that he was intruding didn’t really enter his mind; he was too curious, too excited to care.

He needed to talk to the man who built the magic robot.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally got this updated! I feel accomplished. But wow, sorry it took so long. Life and emotions and other excuses. I'm sorry. I will try to update sooner next time.

Hiro’s first thought was that Baymax, the magic robot, was a lot bigger up close than it had looked on stage.

Hiro’s second thought was _ow_.

“You appear to have: fallen. On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?”

Hiro groaned. Did he really just get so excited that he slipped and fell on his ass, just as he reached the coolest invention of the night and its creator? Real smooth, Hiro. Not your best moment.

A hand entered his line of sight and he took it, allowing himself to be pulled to his feet. Soon he was standing on his own power and looking into the eyes of Tadashi Hamada. “Uh, thanks,” Hiro said, trying to smile away his embarrassment.

Tadashi smiled back. “No problem.”

“On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?” Baymax asked Hiro again.

Hiro looked over to see that Baymax’s vinyl covering was doubling as a projection screen. His eyes lit up much like the robot’s chest. “Awesome.”

“I do not have: ‘awesome’ as a value on my scale. Would you like me to add it for you?” The robot tilted its head questioningly.

“That’s okay, big guy,” Tadashi Hamada said with a chuckle. Hiro briefly noticed him wave his friends away, but he was paying more attention to the magic robot in front of him.

“My name is Baymax,” the robot gently corrected its creator as Hiro began to circle him. Baymax’s head rotated like an owl’s, following Hiro’s movements. When he came full circle and reached the robot’s front again, Hiro unceremoniously shoved his face into Baymax’s stomach.

 “I can’t see what it’s using to project that image on its chest; how’s it doing that?”

“Well—“

“Looks like a titanium skeleton…”

“Actually—“

“You’re using lithium ion batteries?”

“Um, yeah, I—“

“Well, I guess nothing’s perfect.”

“Excuse me?”

Hiro pulled away to direct his attention to Tadashi Hamada, who’s expression seemed equal parts puzzled and amused — and possibly kind of offended, but that was par for the course when it came to Hiro and other people’s technology — by Hiro’s behaviour. “How is it storing magical energy?”

“I will scan you now,” Baymax interrupted.

“How—“

“Scan complete.”

“Oh.”

“You have experienced a mild impact to your cranium,” Baymax explained, patiently allowing Hiro to examine its eyes. “I recommend using ice to prevent swelling.”

“Hyper-spectral cameras,” Hiro muttered to himself, reaching up to shift Baymax’s head left and right so he could take a look. Baymax suffered the abuse with great dignity. “Man, you went all out on this thing.”

“And what exactly _is_ ‘this thing’?” a new voice interjected.

Hiro whirled around to see Krei and Arianna giving the robot appraising eyes. “Dad!” Hiro gestured to Baymax, a grin splitting his face. “Magic robot!”

Krei’s eyebrows rose significantly. “Well. That _is_ very impressive.”

“Um.”

The three of them glanced over. Tadashi Hamada stood to the side, watching father and son while scratching the back of his neck nervously. Hiro had almost forgotten he was there.

Reminded, Hiro gestured to Tadashi, a grin once again in place. “Dad! This guy made a magic robot!”

Krei turned to fully face Tadashi Hamada and held out a hand. “Alistair Krei.”

“Tadashi Hamada,” said Tadashi Hamada, taking Krei’s hand and shaking it. Meanwhile, Hiro went back to poking at Baymax, only keeping half an ear on his father’s conversation in case it should yield any interesting information.

“Now, I haven’t seen your creation in action, but I’m sure I can trust my son’s impulse that it is worth investing in. He’s difficult to impress, you know,” Hiro heard Krei tell the inventor. “Are you interested in selling?”

“I’m afraid Baymax isn’t for sale, Mr. Krei,” Tadashi said coolly, while Hiro crouched down to jab at the robot’s feet. The vinyl covering transitioned to rubber there, to resist the wear and tear that would come from walking. Practical.

“Are you sure? I could offer you enough money to pay your SFIT tuition twice over, you know.”

“I can assure you that Mr. Hamada is more than sure of his choices, Alistair.”

Hiro looked up. A man he recognized as Professor Robert Callaghan had appeared, now standing next to Krei. Hiro suppressed a wince; he was well aware that Callaghan was not exactly a fan of his father, although he had never met the professor, and he could already sense the tension in the air between them.

“He’s a very _wise_ young man,” Callaghan finished, blatantly ignoring Krei’s peevish glances at him.

“Um, thank you, Professor,” Tadashi Hamada said, sounding a bit bashful in Hiro’s estimation. He didn’t seem to notice the conflict that was playing out right in front of him.

Callaghan gave the inventor a smile that reminded Hiro of the ones Krei gave him from time to time, whenever he saw Hiro’s inventions, or gave him praises. It was a proud smile, a fatherly one.

“Besides,” Tadashi continued, shaking Hiro from his thoughts, “Baymax is still incomplete. He can’t be mass produced as he is…”

“With lithium ion batteries?” Hiro couldn’t help butting in. Tadashi and Callaghan startled as he popped up suddenly from his position by Baymax’s feet. “I should hope not!”

Tadashi Hamada opened his mouth to respond, then shut it again, shaking his head. Callaghan only blinked at Hiro.

“Be nice, Hiro,” Krei said neutrally. He addressed Tadashi again, “Well, I suppose I can’t push, if your invention isn’t ready. But…” He pulled out one of his ever-handy business cards, extending it to the inventor. “Please, do consider my offer.”

Tadashi took the card, but to Hiro it seemed he was taking it more to be polite than out of any real interest. Hiro hoped he would change his mind, if only so that he could have the chance to open up that robot and poke around in it.

Arianna tapped Krei on the shoulder with her pen, pointing to another demonstration going on once she had his attention.

Whatever Krei saw must have intrigued him. “I suppose I should make my leave,” he said, with a sideways look at Callaghan. “It was good to meet you, Mr. Hamada, and a… pleasure to see you again, Professor. Let’s go, Hiro.”

“But…!”

“Before you say anything,” Krei interrupted, “please consider just _how many times_ you have already tried my patience today.”

Hiro’s protestation died on his lips. “…You make a good point,” he admitted, finally stepping away from Baymax.

“You have been a good boy,” Baymax told Hiro. “Have a lollipop.”

“Sweet!” Hiro took the proffered treat with an amused grin. “Where was it keeping this?”

A moment of silence passed. Hiro looked up at Tadashi Hamada questioningly.

“…Are you actually going to let me answer this time?” the inventor asked, surprised. At Hiro’s nod, he began, “Well—“

“Hiro,” Krei interrupted flatly. “Let’s _go_.”

Hiro groaned. “ _Fine_.” He started to follow, but then paused and said over his shoulder, “Try supercapacitors. They charge faster,” and carried on, missing the thoughtful look Tadashi Hamada gave him.

He didn’t catch the one Robert Callaghan was giving him, either.

.

Early the next morning found Hiro standing in the middle of a field of construction rubble.

Every precaution was in place; Hiro had triple checked, and Krei had probably checked even more times than Hiro knew about. There was no risk of being seen, no risk of being caught, and of course, no risk of being found out. His secret was perfectly safe, he reminded himself.

It was with that in mind that Hiro laid a hand against a discarded pipe and let the lines on his arms glow.

The pipe shuddered, collapsed in on itself, and finally shattered. Hiro heaved a sigh of relief as the tension in his chest eased some.

He moved on. Bricks became dust; boulders turned to gravel; cinder blocks disappeared into puffs of air. The pull in Hiro’s chest, the undirected anger, subsided.

There was nothing left by the time Hiro turned around and went home, feeling positively giddy.

.

“What is it, exactly, that you have to say to him so badly that you came to _my home_?”

Hiro, who had been practically bouncing through the door, stopped short. Who was his father talking to?

“There’s no need to be so hostile, Alistair. I only wanted to speak to him, seeing as I didn’t get much of a chance to last night…”

That sounded like Robert Callaghan…

“Speak to him about _what_?” Krei demanded.

Hiro heard a deep chuckle. “Just speak to him,” Callaghan said patiently. “You know, you’ve been a father for two years now, but I’ve never truly met your son…”

“And whose fault is that?” Hiro peeked around the corner to get a view of Krei and Callaghan talking. He had been trying to by sneaky about it, but Callaghan was facing his direction and noticed him right away. “If this is about—“ Callaghan cut him off, indicating to Hiro.

“U-um, hi,” Hiro said, stepping into view as Krei turned around. He couldn’t help bouncing on his heels — he was jittery. “What’s up?”

“Hiro,” Krei said, a tired look passing over his face. “…You’re home earlier than I expected.”

“S-sorry?” Oh, great. A sudden release of magical build-up always gave him a metric ton of bubbly energy, and now he was so hyper his tongue was jumping around in his mouth, giving him a stutter. That was one of his least favourite effects of working out his magic.

At least he didn’t have hiccups this time, but he could bet any second now he would be having unbidden giggle fits, and probably start thinking all out of order. This was exactly why he tried to avoid people after exercising his magic to such an extent — he was only going to get more confused as the conversation progressed.

“Hiro,” added Callaghan. “A pleasure to finally meet you.”

Hiro took his hand and shook it. “And yo-you’re Robert Callaghan. Um. Hi.” He had to admit that the smile he couldn’t school was not entirely an effect of his previous activities; he was shaking hands with _Robert Callaghan_ — as in, Callaghan’s Laws of Robotics — and okay, so his dad didn’t really like this dude, but… Wait, where was his train of thought again? Crap.

And then a giggle fit decided to drop in.

He heard his father sighing. He glanced up to see that Callaghan was amused by him. Crap, again. Phosphorescent crap on a cracker. He was making himself look like an airhead.

Although at the time, he guessed he kind of was. An airhead. With a head. Full of air. Thoughts. What?

“Perhaps Hiro should head to his room to get some rest,” Krei suggested gently, but Hiro could tell he was stressing out. Krei knew what sort of mood a magical release put him in, and post-magic high plus Krei’s mortal enemies equalled — not good things.

“Why’s that? He seems to be in a good mood,” Callaghan commented.

Hiro nodded, not trusting himself to speak. And then of course he spoke anyway, because he was an _idiot_. “Y-yeah, m- uh, good mood. That, right, that’s right.”

If anything, Krei seemed to be sighing harder. Was that a thing that could happen? Hiro thought of solid oxygen. He was pretty sure he read somewhere that that stuff was explosive, but what did he know? He was a chemistry guy, not a robotics guy. Wait. No. The — the other thing than that.

Crap baked in breadsticks, Callaghan was talking about something. Oh no. What was it? Hiro reminded himself to smile and nod before realising he was already doing that. Was this what it was like to have ADHD? Hiro didn’t actually know anything about ADHD other than what he heard on TV. Maybe he should look it up. He might find advice that could be applicable to dealing with the post-magic effects—

“…Hiro?”

“Y-yes!” Hiro startled. “I. I am listening. Go on.”

Callaghan continued to explain something and Hiro tried to listen but then he noticed Callaghan had a _lot_ of wrinkles. Hiro knew people got laugh lines and stress lines, but how did you tell which one was which? Were there other kinds of wrinkles?

“…What do you think?” Callaghan finished.

“I. I.” Hiro blinked. Smiling and nodding was not cutting it. Wait, cutting what? No, stop, get on topic! Say something generic! “That sounds… cool. S-sure. Okay. Yeah.”

Callaghan smiled genially, but Hiro saw Krei frantically shaking his head behind the other man. What? What? Hiro missed something. Something happened. And. Hiro missed it. What happened?

Krei slapped his forehead when it became apparent that Hiro had no clue what he just agreed to. There was a word for that. Facepalm. That was the word.

Hiro was holding a thing. What? Did Callaghan give him the thing? Callaghan must have given him the thing. What was the thing?

“I look forward to seeing you there,” Callaghan said, and? What? Crap. Callaghan was leaving. Too late to take it back. Or give it back, seeing as it was Callaghan who gave him this… thing.

Callaghan was now gone. Bye, Callaghan.

Maybe he should have said that out loud.

“See, I was trying to stop you, because I could _tell_ you weren’t listening,” Krei told him and oh yeah, a thing happened, and Hiro was still confused.

“What ju-just happened?” Hiro asked.

“Oh, Hiro,” Krei sighed, once again, wow, he sighed a lot. He was like… Sigh-Dad. What? That was lame.

“Hiro, you just agreed to attend classes at SFIT.”


	3. Hiro the Accidental College Student

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter, a summary:
> 
> Krei: Hiro don't do it  
> Hiro: *does it*  
> Krei: oh my god
> 
> I had a lot of fun writing this, especially since all the nerds finally make an appearance! I go back to school tomorrow so... this is like my last hurrah of the summer.

By the next morning, Hiro was feeling a lot calmer than he had in ages. Now that the effects of both the magical build up and post-magic high had subsided, all he felt was content.

Krei, on the other hand, was not in such high spirits. In fact, Hiro came down for breakfast only to find him pacing anxiously around the dining table. Arianna sat watching him, clipboard, as always, in hand. A stack of magazines lay on the table.

“I can’t _believe_ him,” Krei was muttering as he went. “Who does he think — _what_ does he think — Urgh!”

“Um, Dad?” Hiro asked as Krei passed him by.

Krei only waved a hand at him, his mutters unceasing. “Is he really doing this? _Really_? Ugh, he’s so…”

Hiro looked to Arianna. She was absorbed in writing something down on her clipboard but, without even the need to look at him, she lifted her pen and pointed it to the stack of magazines.

Hiro took the one on the top to see a picture of himself over the headline: _Hiro Krei Enrolling at San Fransokyo Institute of Technology? [p.11- >]_

Oh. Right. That was a thing. He had almost forgotten about Callaghan’s visit yesterday, especially since he had crashed right after. Hiro flipped to page eleven to read the story, ignoring his father’s tirade, which had devolved into curses.

_“Last night on The Daily Report with Stephen Stewart, an interview with renowned scientist and SFIT board member Robert Callaghan revealed a surprise addition to SFIT’s roster of students: 14 year old Hiro Krei, adopted son of wealthy business man and public figure Alistair Krei…”_

“How did they even get that into print so fast?” Hiro asked pointlessly.

Krei finally stopped pacing. He looked as if he was barely restraining himself from throwing his hands into the air. “I _knew_ he was going to do something like this! We won’t be able to settle this quietly now; it’s going to be all over the tabloids!”

“Well, why can’t we just tell the truth? Most of the truth,” Hiro amended, catching the pointed look Krei directed at him. “Y’know, that he basically tricked me into agreeing while I was all… you know.”

Krei raised an eyebrow. “What, you want me to tell them you were _high_?”

“I…” Hiro stopped, pressing his lips together. “Hmm.”

“This is exactly what he wanted,” Krei said, now muttering again. “He’s got it out for me…”

Hiro picked up the next magazine from the pile. _Hiro Krei’s Attendance at SFIT Announced on Talk Show! [p.4- >]_

“I guess I should watch last night’s Daily Report episode, huh?” he asked as he flicked to page four.

_Maybe I could do this_ , entered his thoughts unbidden as he started reading. _“The prestigious San Fran Institute of Technology has accepted kid genius Hiro Krei among the elite ranks of its students...”_

Prestigious. Elite. Genius. That all didn’t sound too bad, did it?

Except it also meant going to _school_.

The last time Hiro had attended any school, he was twelve and hadn’t met his adoptive father yet. He had gone to the underfunded schoolhouse built into the orphanage, unable to progress to coursework that matched his intellectual level, rather than his age. His classmates were all the same angry, frustrated, lonely youths who had pushed him around since they were old enough to push.

School wasn’t exactly a word that brought back good memories.

He had learned a lot more from snooping around in the Krei Tech labs than he ever did at any school. Enough to become an inventor in his own right, making headlines for his robots and inventions with enough regularity to gain public acclaim as a prodigy.

He liked inventing. He _liked_ learning. But he didn’t like _school_.

_Beep beep bee-dee-bee._

Hiro broke out of his thoughts as Krei froze. Arianna even paused and glanced up.

Krei pulled his cellphone out of his pocket, reading the caller ID warily. “It’s _him_ ,” he hissed, pushing the phone into Arianna’s hands. “Tell him I’m not home!”

“Uh, Dad?”

Too late. Unperturbed, Arianna had already answered the call. “You have reached Alistair Krei, may I take a message?” A pause. “He is not home, sir. No, I am not with him. Yes, he left his cellphone behind.”

Hiro gave Krei a look. For his part, the man seemed to at last realise that the ‘he isn’t home’ diversion didn’t normally work with cellphones.

“He wants to speak with Hiro,” Arianna reported.

Hiro took the phone without pause, mainly just to drive Krei up the walls. “Hello, this is Hiro.”

_“Hello again, Hiro. This is Robert Callaghan.”_

“Yeah, uh.” Hiro paused. Krei was wearing a familiar, incredulous expression; the one that said ‘I can’t believe I adopted someone who’s this much trouble.’ “What’s up?”

_“I was just calling to offer you a personal tour of SFIT. Classes have already begun for the other students, so the sooner we can get you settled in, the better.”_

“Oh. That’s. That’s very generous of you, Professor. You don’t have to do that.”

_“Nonsense; it would be my pleasure. Unless you’ve changed your mind…?”_

There was something in Callaghan’s tone that spurred Hiro to answer, “No, sir, I haven’t,” before he really processed what he was being asked.

Damn, this man was Dumbledore levels of manipulating his students — not that Hiro was his student. Yet, in any case.

_“Wonderful! My soonest availability is this afternoon, but I understand if that’s too short notice.”_

“No, that’s… fine. This afternoon works.” Glancing over, he noticed Krei mouthing a question at him with urgency. Hiro shrugged at him, garnering a scowl in response.

_“Great. You can come meet me at my personal lab — just ask any staff or student for directions — and I’ll show you the ropes. …Oh, and one more thing?”_

“Yes, sir?”

_“Make sure you let your father know that going out without his phone_ or _his PA is not a sound business practice. People might start to get… suspicious.”_

The words were perfectly innocuous, but Hiro heard something in the man’s voice that sent a shudder down his spine. He swallowed. “Uh, I’ll tell him that. Goodbye now.”

And he hit _end call_ before Callaghan could get a word in otherwise.

Krei was still staring at him expectantly. Hiro slid into one of the chairs at the table. “So, what’s for breakfast?”

“What did he want?” Krei asked instead of answering.

“Oh. I’m getting a tour of the campus later today.”

Krei stared at him for a second, as if wondering if he was joking. Then he slumped into the chair next to Arianna’s, his head in his hands. “Oh my _god_ , Hiro, _why_ do you do these things?”

“It was an accident!”

“Really,” said Krei.

“…Yes?” Hiro fiddled with his silverware. In the corner of his eye, he could see the magazine he had left open, the words _“prestigious San Fran Institute of Technology”_ just barely readable. “…No? I just, I thought, maybe this won’t be so bad?”

“I need an aspirin,” Krei announced, and Arianna stood to fetch him one.

.

Hiro knocked only once, uncertainly, half-hoping he had gone unheard. Maybe he could go home and pretend they just missed each other.

“Come in,” bid the voice from behind the door, despite Hiro’s silent plea.

Biting his tongue, Hiro slowly pushed the door to Professor Callaghan’s private lab open. The first thing he saw was the desk, at which Callaghan was sitting; the second was the Japanese style divider that blocked his view of the rest of the lab.

Callaghan, noticing where he was looking, chuckled. “I keep that to ward off curious students from my personal work.”

“Isn’t that just going to make them _more_ curious?” Hiro couldn’t help asking.

“You make a good point,” Callaghan said, an unreadable smile on his face. “But those who are rude enough to stick their nose in get a nasty surprise, when moving it triggers the alarm. Simple, but effective.”

Hiro mouthed an ‘Oh’ while Callaghan turned back to his computer. The professor hit a few keys before he stood, now giving Hiro the same paternal smile he had given Tadashi Hamada at the showcase. “Now, how about that tour?”

.

“And over here is my personal favourite building.”

“My favourite was the cafeteria,” Hiro said, to which Callaghan chuckled.

The professor led him up to the doors of a very large building that the sign outside proclaimed the _Ito Ishioka Labs_. Hiro briefly wondered who Ito Ishioka was, half-listening to Callaghan explain, “All my practical science students get a workspace in this building. You among them.”

Hiro perked up at this. “I get my own lab?”

“You get your own _workspace_ ,” Callaghan corrected gently, pushing open the doors.

In the very same second, one of the students was already upon Professor Callaghan. It was a tall, blonde woman with pink glasses, holding something glossy and colourful right in the professor’s face.

“Is this true?!” the blonde asked, attention entirely captured by Callaghan, who indulgently took the magazine she was holding to get a better look. “Is Hiro Krei coming to study here?”

“Why don’t you ask him yourself?” said Callaghan.

The professor stepped to the side, and the blonde finally saw Hiro. First she gasped, as overdramatic as any soap opera Hiro had ever seen, but then a grin split her face.

“Oh. My. Gosh!” she exclaimed, and before he was aware of what was happening she had crossed the distance to him and lifted him in a hug. “You’re even _cuter_ in person! I’ve read so much about you,” she said right in his face. Hiro tried to maintain a polite smile.

When she put him back on his feet, Hiro occupied his hands with fixing his hoodie while she looked him over. “You’re so _small_!” she exclaimed with delight. The look on her face made him a little afraid he was going to be picked up again.

“Thanks?” he said, because she said it like a compliment. Most comments he got on his height were of the mocking kind. “Uh, and you are…?”

“Oh, I’m Honey Lemon. It’s so nice to meet you!” What kind of a name was Honey Lemon? He looked at Callaghan, but the man didn’t seem to find anything amiss with her self-introduction. Just then, the blonde took him by the shoulders and began to steer him away. “Come on come on come on, you’ll _love_ this—“

“Try not to scare the kid, Honey,” a new voice interjected.

“Aw, Gogo, I’m not scaring him!” Honey Lemon whined, turning around to face the newcomer.

The newcomer — Gogo? — was smaller than Honey Lemon, but scarier. Even her bubblegum looked intimidating to Hiro. Could bubblegum be intimidating? _Yes_ , Hiro decided, as Gogo popped a bubble with vicious disregard for bubble-life. _Yes it can be._

Next to her sat a man with dreadlocks pulled away from his face by a bandana. He would have been almost as intimidating from his sheer size alone, but something about the way he held himself undercut that. Hiro felt himself relaxing when the man spoke. “Hey, little man,” he greeted. “I’m Wasabi, and this is Gogo. Welcome to SFIT.”

“Thanks,” Hiro said, genuinely grateful. He had no choice but to be suspicious of Callaghan, and Honey Lemon and Gogo made him a little uneasy, but Wasabi felt like he could be on Hiro’s side. It gave him the confidence to ask, “So… your names are Honey Lemon, Gogo, and Wasabi? No offense, but… what?”

Honey Lemon tittered and Gogo arched an eyebrow. Hiro felt himself shrinking, but then Wasabi answered, unbothered, “Oh, they’re just nicknames. Because Honey is sweet, Gogo is fast, and—“ Wasabi pursed his lips. “And one time I spilled wasabi on my shirt and never lived it down.”

“Fred came up with them,” added Honey.

“Who—“

“Did someone say Fred time?!”

Hiro jumped. Behind him had appeared… a monster costume, with a grinning man poking out of its mouth.

“What’s up, man?” Fred said. He offered his hand to shake through the mouth, the actual arms of the costume hanging uselessly.

“He was asking about our nicknames,” Gogo drawled.

“Ah ha!” Fred grabbed Hiro around the shoulders, much like Honey had earlier, and pulled him close. “You wish to learn the art of my nicknaming? Immense thought goes into each of my masterpieces. Honey Lemon, because she brightens your mood, like the tea!” At this, Honey grinned. “Gogo Tomago, because she is fast, like an egg rolling down a hill!” Gogo remained stoic. “And Wasabi, because he is spicy, like — like the spice!”

“Oh my god,” Wasabi groaned.

“So, you see, young cockroach—“

“Grasshopper.”

“No, I’m pretty sure it’s cockroach.”

“It’s really… not.”

Hiro watched the interaction silently. Now that he was seeing all of them together, they seemed familiar somehow. When he got the chance, he interrupted with, “Hey, have I seen you guys before somewhere?”

“Try the showcase, two days ago,” Wasabi answered easily. “When you ran up to Tadashi while we were talking to him?”

“Oh,” Hiro’s cheeks burned in embarrassment as memories of eagerly falling on his face came back to him. “Uh… sorry?”

“Oh, don’t worry about it, Hiro!” Honey waved him off, drawing out his name in a particular way — did she speak Japanese? Or was that the hint of an accent? “You looked so excited to meet him; it was adorable!”

“Well, uh—“ For some reason his face started burning hotter. Gogo was smirking at him. “H-he had a magic robot!”

…Why did he sound defensive?

“Speaking of Mr. Hamada and his magic robot,” Callaghan finally spoke, sounding amused, “Mr. Krei and I have a tour to finish.”

“…What do those things have in common?” Hiro asked.

“You’ll see,” Callaghan said, signalling him towards another doorway. The four students said their goodbyes as he followed.

“It’s open,” a voice called when Callaghan knocked. Hiro recognised it easily, mostly because they had only just been talking about Tadashi Hamada.

(That’s what he told himself.)

Sure enough, when they entered the room there was the man himself, typing something up at the computer screen on his desk.

“Hey, Professor,” Tadashi said, throwing a glance over his shoulder — and then throwing another one when he noticed Hiro. “Uh, hey… you.”

“Hi,” Hiro said with a small wave.

Tadashi turned to face them fully as Callaghan clapped Hiro on the shoulder. Hiro tried his best not to show any discomfort. “Mr. Hamada, this is Hiro Krei. I believe you’ve already been acquainted?”

“Yes, sir, we met at the showcase,” Tadashi answered. He sent Hiro a friendly smile that the boy couldn’t help but return.

“Oh, good. I hope you won’t mind clearing out a little space for him, then.”

There was a short, surprised pause. “In… in here?”

Callaghan’s lips quirked up at one side. “Mr. Hamada, you do know you’ve had a two-person lab space all to yourself for the last year, don’t you?”

“I have?” He sounded genuinely surprised. “Oh. Uh. I guess it is pretty big, come to think of it.”

“So it won’t be a problem?”

“Not at all, sir! I can start making room right now.”

Tadashi turned to his lab space. Hiro imagined gears turning in his head as the man planned out what he needed to move around.

Hiro felt a hand on his shoulder again. Callaghan was watching him with eyes that seemed too knowing for comfort. “So, now that you’ve seen everything, Mr. Krei, what do you say?”

“I…”

Damn this man. Hiro still didn’t know whether to trust him. Was he really _just_ offering Hiro a spot at this college? Or did he have ulterior motives, somehow fuelled by his grudge against Hiro’s father?

But on the other hand, going to SFIT apparently meant working in the very lab where Tadashi Hamada invented a magic robot. And potentially getting to see him work on said robot. Hiro was just _dying_ to take Baymax apart.

It was with that thought in mind that Hiro turned to Callaghan and said, “Where can I sign up for classes?”

**Author's Note:**

> If you have any questions about this AU you can direct them to either my main tumblr (actualpirateking.tumblr.com/ask) or my bh6/hidashi sideblog (shipshipashi.tumblr.com/ask). I'm more likely to respond if I get the question there!


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